I Can Work With That
by SecretStream
Summary: For the first time in 300 years, Jack isn't alone. He has the guardians, and he has Sophie and Jamie. But they're kids, and kids grow up and move on. Naturally, Sophie and Jamie do this too. But as they grow up and move on, Jack finds himself wishing he could too.
1. Chapter 1

Jack stared at Jamie's gravestone, just remembering. He traced the words on it, covering them in frost ever so carefully.

_Jamie Bennett, _

_Last Light,_

_Never Stopped Believing_

Jack let his frozen tears slide down his face and land on the grass below him. It had been two days since Jamie passed. He had lived a long life, a happy life, but it had to come to an end eventually. Jack continued his silent sobbing. It wasn't fair! He had never asked to be like this. To never grow up, to stay seventeen forever. Now he would never see Jamie again, and it wasn't _fair_.

Sophie's voice came from behind him, cutting through his thoughts. "I'm sorry," she said.

Jack shook his head. "I should be saying that to _you_. He was _your_ brother."

Sophie smiled sympathetically. "But I will be seeing him again, very soon. I don't have a lot of time left. Oh, a few more years, definitely, but compared to you, that's not really anything at all."

Jack nodded. "I know," he said sourly. Then he looked up at Sophie. "You know I never asked for this," he voiced his thoughts from earlier.

She looked confused, so he elaborated. "To live forever. To watch everyone I love die off while I just stay like this, frozen, pretty much literally too, as a teenager for eternity. When I did what I did, all I wanted to do was save my sister. I never thought I'd end up like _this_." He gestured down at himself. "Of course, if I hadn't, I'd never have met Jamie." He laughed bitterly, a sound filled with pain and agony and a little bit of confusion.

He leaned up against Sophie's shoulder, silently thanking her for letting him talk. "These have been the happiest years of my life since I was human, knowing you guys. And the thing is, I feel like I fulfilled my purpose in life, now, and I just wish I could live a normal life, grow up and grow old like you guys, and then die. Circle of life and all that." He sighed.

"I'm not meant to be a spirit, and I think I've always known that, in the back of my head, but I pushed it away because I was happy and having fun, and it seemed like at the moment that was all that mattered. But now?" Jack shook his head. "Now I'm not happy anymore, and all those things stored in the back of my mind behind that wall of fun and happiness came rushing to the front through the door that they never knew was there until now."

Sophie hummed in thought. "Well, that was a very nice metaphor," she finally offered, making Jack chuckle just the slightest bit before frowning. Sophie became serious again. "Is there anything else you want to say?" She asked gently.

Jack sighed, and nodded as he said, "You know, after all these years I've finally realized that if I had gotten off that ice with my sister that day, and lived out my life then, I wouldn't be here now.

"MiM gave me a second chance at life, made me a guardian to look after kids in the way I never got to when I was mortal. But that's all it was, really. A second chance at _life_." He emphasized the last word. "And life doesn't last forever. So neither should I." He stated the last sentence matter of factly, leaving no room for argument.

Thankfully, and to his relief, Sophie didn't argue. "I know," she said quietly, surprising him. She smiled when he looked up at her with startled eyes. "I think I've always known. Not always consciously, of course, I only met you when I was three, but I think I've always known that you weren't quite like the other guardians."

Jack nodded, leaning back up against her shoulder. "I'm not," he agreed. "They're happy the way they are, with their jobs, and the way they do them. They're happy with hiding from kids and just letting them believe based off of stories, and never actually talking with them. They're happy with not making close connections and keeping to themselves. They let themselves have a favorite maybe once a millennium, or less."

He shook his head tiredly. "I don't work like that. I _need_ to make close connections or else I don't feel safe. Or else I'll revert to that same desperate lonely state I was in for 300 years." If Jack had made this same speech any other day, it would have been filled with much more anger and exasperation. Now, however, it just sounded resigned.

"But back to what I was saying before," Jack started, "I feel like I've fulfilled my life you know? MiM gave me a second try, and I feel like I've lived it for what it's supposed to be. But with that second try came the cost of immortality, which, while many people wish for it, I wouldn't wish it on anybody. And now that I've lived my life to the fullest it's really going to get, what do I do?" He asked Sophie, not really expecting an answer, but desperate for one all the same.

Sophie smiled at him sadly. "Just don't kill yourself, okay?" Sophie knew what would happen if she said that, but she said it anyway, knowing it's the only answer there is for an immortal. Bunny had told her that the only way for an immortal to die was if someone killed them, if they got caught up in a situation like drowning or burning, or by suicide. And Sophie watched as Jack remembered that detail, as his eyes lit up with a plan, as he smiled a real, happy smile for the first time in two days, and as he stared at Sophie and realized that she'd said what she said on purpose to help him.

"Thank you," Jack whispered. Then he hugged her tight, and kissed the top of her head and murmured into her hair, almost laughing with relief, "I won't as long as you're alive. Not as long as you're alive," he promised.

Sophie's smile became less sad then, and she laughed too. "I can work with that."


	2. Chapter 2

**-Five years later-**

Once again, Jack sat by a gravestone remembering. Only this time it wasn't Jamie's. It was Sophie's, right next to Jamie's. as it should be. This time it was Sophie's gravestone he traced the words on.

_Sophie Bennett,_

_Loving Mother,_

_Wise and Seeing_

The words were as true as Jamie's were, Jack mused. Sophie was a very loving mother. She had never married, but had adopted two kids and raised them better than most families with two parents could. Her kids had grown up and had long stopped believing, but Sophie never had. And she was the wisest person Jack had ever met, excluding ones who had lived for more than a few centuries, seeing things no one else saw, including the fact that Jack was different from the others.

That thought reminded Jack of the plan he had made five years ago, and that he was going to carry out that plan later today. He had promised Sophie not while she was alive, and he hadn't regretted that promise, but now that she was gone, he had to do it. His purpose in life had been achieved, and he had already lived past his time.

'_So yes,'_ he concluded. '_Today would be the day.' _But first, he had to say goodbye. He turned around, intending to go back to the pole to tell them, when he saw Bunny heading toward him. "Ah," he said, pleased that he could maybe do one now, so he would have someone who had his back when he told the rest. Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with them all at once; he wasn't sure.

"Perfect timing," he told Bunny, remembering a little too late that he might have put a little too much cheer in that statement for this situation.

Sure enough, Bunny looked up at him with his tired eyes and snapped, "Honestly, Frostbite! Can you _ever_ be serious?! Do you even care that we'll never see Sophie again, ever, or has that not been drilled into your little pea-sized brain yet?"

Jack flinched. Yep, a little too much cheeriness. "Sorry," he said sincerely. "And yes, I can be serious, and I'm being serious now when I say that I would definitely care if I never got to see Sophie again, but the thing is," Jack hesitated, looking at Bunny's confused expression, and he took a deep breath before finishing, "The thing is I _will _be seeing her again, very soon, along with Jamie and my sister and my parents as well," he said, a smile crossing his lips as he finished, and waited for Bunny to catch on.

Bunny's eyes widened almost comically as he figured it out. "No mate, you ain't thinkin' of…" he trailed off.

"Yes, in fact, I am, just as soon as I say goodbye to everyone."

"But-but you can't seriously be that _selfish_!" Bunny spluttered.

"Selfish?" Jack asked. "I didn't think of it as being selfish.

"Well, it is! I mean, you can't just kill yourself just because they're gone."

"Bunny," Jack sighed. "It's not just because they're gone. I'll admit, if they were all here I wouldn't be doing this. But, they're all mortal. They'd grow up, move on, and I'd be stuck in this same position again."

Bunny looked confused. "How is that not just because they're not here?"

"I was getting there. Be patient," Jack said, annoyed. Then he sighed. "Manny gave me a second chance at life, because I saved my sister and died too young; 17 years ain't long enough, after all. And I was lonely for a while and then I was happy for awhile, and I lived out that second chance. And now? My time has come, and it's time for me to go. Life doesn't last forever, and this was only a second try. This is something that needs to happen, but it won't, not naturally, so I have to do it myself. You of all people should understand the circle of life the best."

Bunny nodded slowly. "I guess so," he said reluctantly. "But are you sure? You might just think that right now because you're hurting. I don't want you to do something you'll regret."

"Oh, don't you worry, cottontail. I've been planning this for five years and never once had a single thought of regret."

"Five years…since Jamie died."

"Yeah. Sophie came to me two days after. I told her everything I just told you and some more too. She's the one who gave me the idea. I promised her I wouldn't do it as long as she was alive. Well, she's not exactly alive anymore, so now I can."

"Wait, wait, wait, did you say _Sophie _gave you the idea?"

"Yeah," Jack smiled sadly. "She said she's always sort of known I wasn't like the rest of you guys. Not in a bad way, just different. So she told me the idea."

"Huh, well, well w-what about being the guardian of fun? Who's gonna bring fun if you're gone?"

Jack smiled. "You forget. I don't _bring _fun. I protect it. And you guys did just fine without me for however long you've been doing this. Besides, I know exactly which one of you guys could do it without me."

"Who?" Bunny asked.

"You, of course you. It's always been you, really. You've been doing it all along I think, without even realizing it."

"Me!?" Bunny gaped at Jack. "Why me?"

"I just said why. You've always done it, just without knowing it."

"Well, okay, I guess, and thank you, but do ya have to do this?"

Jack sighed. "Yes, and I told you why. Circle of life and everything. My time is finished. You know, if I had gotten off the ice that day and lived out my life then, I wouldn't be here now, I guarantee it. But I didn't, and I am here, and now it's about time for me to leave. Do you understand?"

"I...yes," Bunny said reluctantly.

"Great!" Jack exclaimed. "Do you think you could explain that all to the others, because I don't think they'll listen to me. Tell them I said goodbye and I'll miss them."

"Uh, yeah I guess I can do that."

Jack smiled warmly. "Thank you. I have a feeling they'd just lock me up until I change my mind out of sheer need to get away. They don't understand the circle of life like you do."

"I..suppose I'll take that as a compliment. Can I, can I watch?"

Jack thought about it, then said, "Sure, as long as you don't try to 'help.'"

"I promise."

"Then come on." Jack starts walking, and Bunny follows him.

"How are you gonna do it?" Bunny asks.

"Well, I figure I want to leave this life the same way I left the last one. And this might be the only way I'll be able to go through with it. So I'm going to drown myself. In my lake." He gestures to the frozen body of water as they arrive.

"Wow, um, right now?"

"Right now," Jack nods in confirmation.

"W-well then," Bunny stammers. "I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah," Jack says quietly. "I guess so. Bye, Bunny."

"Bye, Snowflake." Bunny goes over and hugs him. "I don't think I've ever done this before, and you deserve it, so-"

"Thank you," Jack interrupts. "Thank you for understanding. Only you and Sophie are the ones who really understand, I think. But now we really have to say goodbye." Without a word, he walks on the ice out to the middle, and slams his staff down in front of him. The ice there melts fast in a perfect circle in front of him. Jack looks back at the shore where Bunny is. "Goodbye."

"Bye," Bunny whispers, waving.

Jack looks down at the hole, takes a deep breath, and whispers, "You can do this," to himself before jumping in, the hole icing over behind him.

Bunny watched, and once the hole had completely iced over again he sighed and opened a tunnel to the Pole. "The others are going to kill me for this," he muttered before going down the tunnel, wiping at tears he swore to himself weren't there.

And under the ice, Jack let out his last breath and breathed in, choking on the water before everything went black.

Jack opened his eyes and saw Sophie standing in front of him. When he looked past her he saw his mother and Jamie and a woman he didn't recognise at first before noticing she had his sister's eyes. There were others too, but Jack had eyes only for his sister. "Pippa!" he breathed out. "I've missed you!"

She smiled through tears. "I've missed you too, Jack. You have no idea."

"I'm so happy to see you all," Jack said, moving to hug everyone else as well, Sophie last. When he got to her he smiled with gratitude. "Thank you, Sophie, for everything."

She smiled too. "Hey, no problem. You kept your promise didn't you?"

Jack attempted to look offended. "Hey, of course I did! I don't break promises!"

"Not intentionally," Sophie corrected.

Jack grinned. "I'm a little forgetful sometimes, forgive me, thank you."

Sophie fought a smile as well. "Hey, why don't I show you around here? You'll be here for eternity after all. Then later you and your sister can catch up."

Jack smiled again, softly this time. "I can work with that."


End file.
